More Fruitcake For Fillius
by secretfanficlover
Summary: Fillius thinks his colleagues had forgotten his 50th birthday, but it turns out they had a surprise all planned out for him.


**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

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Word Count: 870

Title: More Fruitcake For Fillius

Note: Quote used as dialogue (Bookworm challenge)

Beta: Verity Grahams

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Hogwarts

Assignment 10: Ritual & Ceremonial Magic: Winter Solstice: Task #3: Write a fic including two or more days.

Yearly:

Prompt 127 [Plot Point] Feeling left out

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Filius was walking around feeling left out; the teachers had called a meeting and nobody had even thought about inviting him. He fleetingly wondered if it had something to do with his birthday the next day, but he forgot all about it as the day went by. He was busy with his classes, and it seemed like the day simply dragged by. He was miserable about not being included in the meeting. He spent his lunch break in his office; he was not feeling like facing the other teachers at the moment. He sat with his boring sandwiches and looked out the window.

The school had always been like his family, he had no home outside the school, and no family left alive. He had outlived most of the Flitwick line already at his age, and the far cousins he didn't even know.

He spent the night sitting marking essays, and he watched an owl fly by outside his window. He wondered who it was that was getting a letter, probably a student sending a message home to their parents, he thought.

That night as he went to bed he could only think that tomorrow would be an important milestone in his life, and he was sure at least some of the staff would remember it.

He had been working at the school all his life, and he didn't believe he asked too much of anyone. He simply minded his own business most of the time. As he drifted off to sleep, he had a fleeting last thought that perhaps they would throw him a birthday party. They did that sometimes for the big ones.

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The next day arrived, and during breakfast he expected some of the students or teachers to come up to him and at least wish him a happy birthday, but it seemed like nobody had remembered it at all.

Filius was sad and lonely; he had never thought his birthday would come without so much as a mention from either students or teachers. He knew he wasn't everyone's favourite teacher, that would be too much to ask, but he tried his best. Surely that should mean something to someone. Yet, here he sat, all by himself at lunch time, having fruit cake for lunch and no one to share it with. It wasn't even just any birthday either, he was turning fifty years old today.

"Do you have a problem, Fillus?" Minerva asked him, watching him sigh and have dessert for lunch.

"Problem? My only problem is that I'm out of fruitcake," Fillius said, taking the last bite of the cake in his plate. He could tell Minerva was trying not to laugh, and he wondered if she thought he was being ridiculous.

"It's not polite to sneak up on people," he muttered under his breath as she walked off.

The day went by without a single happy birthday wish, and by the late afternoon he was feeling utterly miserable. Why is it that nobody ever took him seriously? Did all the teachers really forget his fiftieth birthday?

He was sitting alone in his office, ready to call it a day and go to bed, when Severus appeared in the doorway in his usual snarky manner.

"Feeling sorry for yourself, are you?" Severus asked, eyeing him curiously.

"I just... I kind of get rejected a lot," FIlius said sadly.

"Well, come on then," Severus said, walking over to the man and pulling him up from behind the desk.

"Where are we going?" Filius asked, but Severus just turned and walked to the door, before pausing to wait and see if he was following him.

"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Severus muttered to him.

The staff room was decorated in a festive manner, and it took FIlius a couple of minutes to realise there was a large banner across the entrance that said: "_Happy 50th Birthday Fillius!" _He gasped in surprise.

"You did all this for me?" he asked, wiping a tear from his cheek as the headmaster came up to him with a beaming smile.

"Of course, good fellow, we couldn't let a milestone like this go unnoticed," Albus said with a grin. The table was covered in bowls of candy, many of Filius's favourites, all the teachers knew he had a sweet tooth.

Minerva brought out a bottle of sweet champagne and started to pour glasses while the rest started to sing. Once Fillius noticed everyone holding a glass, and they completed the song, they waited for Minerva to speak.

"Happy birthday," she said, raising her glass to toast him.

"Thank you, everyone! I don't know what could have made this night any better," Fillius admitted with a blush. He felt silly for believing that everyone had forgotten his birthday.

"I know one thing," Minerva said, and a house elf appeared, carrying a silver tray. "The cake."

Fillius squealed with delight as the cake was revealed, it was a fruitcake! It wasn't typical for birthdays, but it just showed how much his friends on the staff knew him. It just didn't get any better than this.


End file.
